6 Weeks at the UB: Internship Report

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For 6 weeks, our exchange intern Ning Jiang from the USA got to know the University Library Zurich from the inside. In this blog post, she describes her experiences.

During my library science graduate studies in the U.S., I had the opportunity to undertake an internship at the University Library Zurich in Switzerland, enriching my educational experience in the field. Switzerland is a country renowned for its diversity and multilingualism, and my time working in the academic library was an exposure to a broad spectrum of cultures, languages, and traditions.

The University Library Zurich serves a diverse student and faculty population, and the librarians must be able to communicate and provide assistance in a variety of languages. This experience has been eye-opening, enriching, and transformative in many ways.

This internship provided me with the opportunity to work with a diverse and knowledgeable team of librarians. I was able to learn from librarians with a wide range of expertise, including cataloging, reference, instruction, and digital services. I was also impressed by the commitment to user service that I saw from all of the librarians. They were always willing to go the extra mile to help students and faculty find the resources they needed. I will take what I learned from these incredibly friendly and skilled librarians in my own future library work.

Work at two UB locations

During my internship, I had the opportunity to work on a variety of projects in two different library departments, the UB Asian and Oriental Studies, and the UB Sciences. I helped to catalog new books and serials and re-catalog books based on the Universal Decimal Classification. Additionally, I helped to develop library instruction sessions for students in the field of mathematics. I also had the opportunity to learn about the library’s digital services, including its e-book collection and its online databases.

My internship at the University Library Zurich was a remarkable journey that allowed me to develop new skills, gain cultural insights, and broaden my understanding of the library field. The experience taught me the importance of adapting to diverse environments, staying current with technology, providing user-centered services, and connecting with library professionals globally.

I am grateful for this enriching experience, and I am confident that the knowledge and skills I have gained will significantly contribute to my future library career.

Ning Jiang, Intern